FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas women’s basketball team has a huge matchup at No. 2 Connecticut on Sunday afternoon, but it hasn’t turned their attention to the Huskies quite yet.
First, the Razorbacks must deal with Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a noon tipoff today at Walton Arena.
This is the first season the Razorbacks have all four in-state Division I schools on the schedule since the long-standing rule against playing in-state schools was relaxed. Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors said he is hopeful it helps to grow the game across the state.
“I truly want our state to be recognized for having great basketball, and we can’t do that if we don’t help each other,” Neighbors said. “Once it became available to us an option, like I said, we’re kind of cannon-ball people, I wanted to jump right in and get ’em all as quickly as we could.”
He also said the Razorbacks will play the Golden Lions in Pine Bluff and take on Central Arkansas in Conway in the future.
“We have fans all over,” Neighbors said. “We have people that follow us from all over and I think it’s very, very important that we do everything we can do to help all programs rise.”
Arkansas-Pine Bluff Coach Dawn Thornton said getting the chance to play in Fayetteville is important to her team and school for a variety of reasons.
“We want to put the UAPB brand across the state,” said Thornton, who is in her third season with the Golden Lions. “It’s important to jump in everybody’s backyard.
“We want to play those high majors, those Power 5s. It gives us an assessment of what the first round of the NCAA Tournament would be like, and obviously brings more resources into our institution.”
UAPB lost 86-52 in Fayetteville last season in the first-ever meeting between the teams. The Golden Lions lost 65-60 to McNeese State at home in their season opener on Tuesday. Khadijah Brown, who had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds against the Razorbacks last year, went for 25 points and 13 rebounds earlier in the week.
Neighbors said UAPB will apply full-court pressure in an attempt to disrupt any offensive flow and has depth to play 10 to 12 players.
“They come at you in waves,” Neighbors said. “Quick turnaround for us and a good chance to see a different style of play and force us to defend a different way as well.”
Arkansas got off to a strong start defensively in Wednesday’s 85-33 win against Tarleton State. The Texans were limited to single digits in three of the four quarters, including five points in the third quarter and no field goals.
Neighbors wouldn’t reveal the entire starting lineup for today’s game but did say freshman Samara Spencer would get her first start. The 5-9 guard from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has come off the bench in both the exhibition game against Arkansas-Fort Smith and in Wednesday’s opener.
She scored 16 points, dished out 5 assists and contributed 4 steals in the exhibition win, then followed that up with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting and 2 three-pointers.